Libby's turn: what does a British girl think about it?

Walk into a British bookstore and most of the teen fiction will be pastel-hued novels by Louise Rennison and the like. The lines from these diary-style confessional, laugh-out-loud books cause, along with cackling laughter, huge.huge.huge swooning. On a Victorian, pass-me-the-smelling salts level. Why? Oh, simply because they house some of the sweetest, most gorgeous, loveliest gents that twenty-first century British teen literature has to offer.

Actually, scratch that. Some of the sweetest, most gorgeous, loveliest gents that twenty-first century Western teen literature has to offer. Because sparkly boys with an addiction to blood don't really do it for me. Surely I cannot be alone in this belief? So--an exhibition of sweet, funny, and not-exactly bad-looking fictional guys.

Exhibit a: Kartik in A Great And Terrible Beauty.
He's Indian. But, he's living in Britain and the book is written by a Brit. So, roll with it. He's sensitive and nice and handsome. And quite possibly a ghost, which only adds to the allure.

Exhibit b: Robbie in Confessions Of Georgia Nicholson
Lovely chap. Oh, he's not half bad in the films either!

Exhibit c: Ron Weasley in Harry Potter
Yes, Ron. I stopped the series someplace around the fifth book because Harry was not exactly my style of reading but Ron was my fav. He was kind of down-to-earth and he was funnier than Harry.

Exhibit d: Billy in Ally's World
Billy is awesome. He's such a typical boy, blanking out on important conversations and droning on about xBox, but secretly romantic too.

And that's not even starting on the classics. Oh, Mr Darcy! And some crazy people find Heathcliff romantic {I want to swear at him, frankly}. Not forgetting Mr Rochester either...

Looking back over this list, I seem to be listing fairly 'normal' boys. And isn't that what we want? Not sparkly bloodsuckers, hairy wood-dwellers, or the traitorous but gorgeous guys.

So--yes. Perhaps some of the boys in my French class leave a lot to be desired. But in the realms of fiction? We, the British, are unbeatable.

{and I swear I don't normally speak--or type--this 'englishly'. But when writing about Britain I feel the need to drop in terribly British phrases. And drink tea.}
xx
Libby